Baby Mama of the Week: Jacqueline Fauteux of Rocket lunch

Photo from Jacqueline FauteuxRocket lunch is a perfectly mixed food blog where Jacqueline Fauteux shares family recipes and dishes on the local food scene. (Especially helpful for a new Los Angeleno.) If you aren't inspired to cook an Italian pot roast or experiment with pasta carbonara after clicking on Rocket lunch, then I can't help you. I really can't.

In addition to her Thomas Keller obsession, Jacqueline's other love is 18-month-old Felix, who is a lucky beneficiary of her culinary feats. They live and eat with her husband in sunny, foodie, Los Angeles.

Meet Jacqueline Fauteux, our Baby Mama of the Week.

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Name one thing about you that would surprise your readers.

I used to work in a restaurant kitchen and hated it! I have the utmost respect for chefs, but I'm certainly not cut out for the grueling, fast-paced, late-night, monotonous, make-the-same-salad-a-thousand-times lifestyle. I prefer to putter around the kitchen with a glass of wine, enjoying the slow stirring of polenta or the quiet satisfaction of chopping a pile of onions. And if Felix is willing, the sounds of his guitar strumming and off-key singing as the backdrop. Yet truth be told, I still have a giant secret fantasy of going to culinary school ... go figure!

What is your proudest parenting moment?

Felix ate an anchovy with a slice of roasted red pepper last Sunday, and he wanted more! His open-mindedness to new foods, although likely to hit a road bump in the next year, fills me with pride. I love sharing whatever is being cooked up in my kitchen with him; be it Italian pot roast, chilled cream of celery soup, chocolate brioche, or eggs scrambled in truffle butter. For now he's so willing and that's delightful. I'm also absolutely thrilled by the fact that I can ask him to get any book by name off of his bookshelf and he will get it right every time. Now when he can do that with my cookbook shelves, my mind will be blown.

What's your secret coping mechanism?

I talk to myself. And it helps a lot. When I feel like I'm going to completely lose my cool, I step back, take a breath, and remind myself about how frustrated I used to be with Felix throwing food all over the floor. It made me crazy, but one day I had a long talk with myself and simply decided to get over it. It just wasn't worth it. The next day, Felix threw food all over the floor and I didn't do a thing about it. I ignored it and cleaned it up after the meal was over. I felt so much better not caring about every strawberry or piece of bread, and it gradually stopped happening.

When your baby is old enough to Google, which blog post are you most afraid of him reading?

Well, my husband works at Google, and he promises to childproof Google before Felix comes of age!

No really, so far I'm not too afraid. I hope that my blog will evolve into a chronicle of many of the food experiences that Felix and I have shared. Perhaps, a document of how his palate has developed, and the adventures we have lived. I'm hoping that he will bloom into a little foodie himself!

What is the best piece of parenting advice you can give?

Plant a garden with your child! Even a little container garden will work. Involving your little one in the process of planting, watering -- especially watering! -- witnessing your zucchini blossoms wake up in the morning, and harvesting the fruits of your labor together -- it's so rewarding. Just yesterday Felix and I picked our first three cherry tomatoes and two little green beans. We shared them standing in the sun. It was magical.